At that time Jesus passed through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick and eat some heads of grain. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “…. If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice,you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:1-8, CSB).

In the early 1970’s Fritz Ridenour published a book, How To Be a Christian Without Being Religious. Presenting a practical commentary on the New Testament book of Romans, the book distinguishes between genuine faith and religious hypocrisy as it explores how “religion” as a practice can become empty when it is severed from authentic faith based on a personal relationship with Christ.

In Matthew 12 Jesus gives us a workshop on religion vs. relationship.

At the beginning of Matthew 12 Jesus and His disciples are walking through a grain field on the Sabbath. As they passed through the field they picked and ate some of the heads of grain. Some Pharisees saw the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath and complained to Jesus that it was unlawful. For modern disciples, the greater offense appears to be stealing another man’s grain. But, under the Mosaic law handpicking grain from a neighbor’s field was not considered stealing (see Deuteronomy 23:25).

First century rabbis divided work prohibitions into dozens of categories with each having many subcategories. Three prohibited categories were picking, threshing and winnowing; thus, by picking the grain and rubbing it between their hands to remove the husks the disciples were guilty on all three counts!